Last MTC Letter - Time sure Flies

<Larry's words> This is her most recent but due to internet connectivity issues in India, it's a few days later... since this letter, she got to speak briefly with Margie and a couple of her brothers and has flown to Toronto.  Can't wait to hear from her in her first area!!!

<Sister Cross' words>

Hello family and friends!

Since I'm leaving on Monday morning (SUPER early) we get time today to do laundry and email our families, kind of like a half a P-Day. This week has FLOWN by! I can't believe we only have today and Sunday left! And so much has happened. Hopefully I can get it all across to you.

Okay, so Monday and Tuesday were great! They don't have as much classroom time, so it was kind of nice. Tuesday afternoon was really hard, though. We had our first TRC (Teaching Resource Center) which means an actor comes in a plays an investigator and we teach them. Ours was extremely difficult. She's Roman Catholic and asked super hard questions. Like Sister Wise was sharing about the Restoration and the spirit was there; it was great! And then Ivelisse (our "investigator") totally killed the spirit. She brought up a scripture that says no one can see God without being transfigured and asked if Joseph Smith was transfigured. What?! Who asks that, really? We left there with only a second appointment and basically no hope. Mom's letter couldn't have come at a better time when she reminded me that if I am rejected, they aren't rejecting me, they're rejecting the gospel. We talked to another sister who had taught her and she suggested being bold and maybe even letting her go. I wanted to do that so bad! I didn't want to teach her again. But I also knew how important the gospel is and we wanted to help bless her life. Brother Beheshti, basically the best person ever, suggested we pray silently as a companionship for 15 minutes asking the Lord for help. On Thursday, before we taught her, we had some study time and we did just that. I told Heavenly Father I wasn't going to stop praying until I got some kind of guidance. All of us felt like we needed to talk to her about prayer and the Atonement. In our appointment, Sister Wise nailed it! She got Ivelisse to pray during our appointment, agree to come to church and agree to get baptized if she found the right church! It was awesome.

On Wednesday, we had a volunteer TRC, which means they may or may not actually be an investigator. We actually were told ahead of time that the scenario was less actives. We got to teach this humble 20-year-old Chinese kid who went to BYU. He talked about how he's the only member in his family and he felt like he needed to be an example. When all of his friends went on missions, he prayed to know if he should go too, but got the answer "Not yet." He was criticized a lot for it and stopped going to church, but had recently decided to go back. We asked him how he felt in the Temple and he said he loves being there. I connected with him surprisingly well. I shared the scripture in Matthew about talking the yoke of Christ upon  you and I talked about how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know exactly what he's going through. I even shed a tear or two. After, he prayed and then asked us to stay for a second. His words were, "I had to fib a little bit and I feel so bad! That really did happen, but it was a few months ago and I'm okay now." It was hilarious how bad he felt for acting and doing what he was supposed to. He was so sweet and told us that the things we said were exactly what his friends on missions told him. It was the first time I had confidence in my teaching ability.

Okay, I think I told you all about Dennis, our teachers investigator personality. He is extremely difficult to teach sometimes. Well, we as a companionship decided we were going to baptize him. We planned a little bit of a lesson, but since it was our first real time meeting with him, we knew we had to take time to discern his needs. We prayed and then knocked on his door. He told us to come in and we talked for a second and then asked if we could start with a prayer. He's done this before where he will hold out his hands to pray, because that's what he knows, so we expected it. We usually go along with it for the opening prayer and then teach him to pray "our way" during the lesson and do that to close. Well, this time he was sick, so he asked that we close our hands and just touch fists (which is what we've been doing this whole time at the MTC because it's flu season.) So basically we're sitting here, trying to pray in a fake lesson and we're "fist bumping" instead because he's sick. Sister Wise started the prayer, "Heavenly Father..." and then burst into laughter. I, of course, followed suit. It was HILARIOUS. We couldn't keep it serious. He was like, "Is everything okay?" I asked him, between laughs, if we could pause for a second so Sister Wise and I could gain our composure and start the prayer over. He agreed and we asked Sister Edwards to say it. Even through the actual prayer, Sister Wise and I had a hard time. When we finished he said, "Well, I certainly haven't felt the spirit like that before." The lesson went okay, but we definitely didn't baptize him that time. And now, everywhere we go, Sister Wise and I fist bump. Usually she tells me she doesn't want to pray! And then we proceed to chuckle a little bit.

Yesterday, we have In-Field Orientation. Basically they teach everyone who is leaving next week all of the things they didn't teach you in class. We're sitting in a chair for EIGHT HOURS. Seriously, it was exhausting. But it made everything feel real. Well, until they put on the cheesiest play I think I've ever seen! That was funny. Basically it was about a new elder in the field who is REALLY excited about his work. I think the funniest moment is when they were in a ward council and the primary president gives the Bishop and the Ward Mission Leader a sticker for being reverent. The new elder, Elder Sharpe, leans over to the Ward Mission Leader and says, "Hey! Congratulations!" Later, the Ward Mission Leader's phone goes off, so the primary president takes his sticker away. Elder Sharpe says, "Sorry about that, man." See? Cheesy! But funny.

After In-Field, they told us the great news about the 58 new missions! It's crazy what you don't hear in the MTC. But oh my goodness it was so exciting. Our instructor was telling us about how this is normally low months as far as numbers go in the MTC. He said on average they have like 1400-1700 missionaries during these months. But right now, during our low time, we have 3200! Sitting there, Sister Wise pointed out that this whole room full of young adults excited to share the gospel are going to enter the world next week. And this is happening every week! Our instructor reminded us of how, in 1978 (or something like that) all men were allowed to have the priesthood. He then said that this announcement was bigger than that. It is so cool to be apart of this great work!

I've been doing a lot better. I do have a cold and that's not fun. But other than that, my spirits are a lot higher. And on Monday, we'll fly out to Canada. By the way, we have like 5 elders and something like 30 sisters going into Toronto with us! What?! How exciting is that?!

Anyway, I better get going. Thank you so much for the love and support. I really do miss you all!

Love, 

Sister Cross 

PS Elder Eric Schenk says hi! He was standing right behind me. :) 

Sister Cross at Seatac - she is ready!

 Jessica with Dad

 Jessica with Ryan

Jessica with her first official Travel Companions - same flight to Provo - very cool!

FIRST Letter (from MTC) - Roller Coaster & ER Trip!

Hey Everyone!

 

I feel like I have a hundred things to tell you all! I don't really know where to start and I have limited time. So bare with me if I miss something.

 

First of all, the MTC is amazing! Our first day here was interesting. I would bore you with some of the details about that day if I had time. I'm in a trio right now; my companions are Sister Edwards and Sister Wise, both a good friends from Layton, UT and both are 19. We have two other sisters in our room, Sisters Ogden and Noker. They are wonderful! Our district has 12 people, us 5 girls and 7 guys. You'll never guess where the guys in our group are going.... PHOENIX, AZ! Crazy, right? Harrison actually wrote me and said he feels like he's about to train again, so to keep an eye out for Phoenix Elders. I just laughed. They are so great! Our main teachers are Brother Bonner and Brother Vea. Brother Bonner is honestly the happiest person I know. And he is so full of the spirit all the time! As part of training, each of our teachers have an "investigator" personality we have to teach. Brother Bonner acts as Troy and we LOVE teaching him. Brother Vea is hilarious, but we don't like teaching him when he acts as Dennis. I actually cried at the end of our first roleplay with him and it hasn't got much better. That's okay, though. I need the challenge.

 

Really quick, to make sure I have time. I have a few schedule things to talk about. First of all, we leave the MTC at 3 AM a week from today (Monday). So letters please make sure they get sent here in time. (DearElder would be best). Our plane leaves at 7AM, and I do get to call home. So I'll probably be calling at like 5 AM your time. I can leave a message if no one answers. I'll probably call Mom's phone and then Dad's phone if there is no answer. We'll get to Toronto around 2 or 2:30 PM there time, so I'm not sure what time that is at home. I can't wait! The MTC is great, but I'm definitely ready. I am so glad I don't have to stay here longer than 12 days. Oh! So you'll never guess who I saw in the Cafeteria! I was in line for wraps and I looked up and there was Carlos Suffert! He was the Brazilian exchange student that stayed with Tyler Henderson our Junior year, I think. He's here learning German to serve in the Berlin mission. CRAZY! He was really excited to see someone he actually knows. Anyway, I was hoping someone could do me a quick favor. I told him I'd try to get Tyler's address for him. Tyler probably has it on his Facebook. If not, could you call the Henderson's and get it? Instead of sending it to me, could you send it to Carlos on DearElder? It would be Carlos Suffert (here at the Provo MTC) and his box is 97. That would be GREAT! Thank you!

 

Anyway, I have a pretty great story to tell you. So I don't know if you've heard, but the food here is definitely not very good for you. I'm trying to eat wraps, but that's not always an option. Anyway, on Saturday, my companion, Sister Edwards, ate fish and chips for dinner. She even mentioned how fried food doesn't sit well with her, but that she was doing fine. We were in class and our instructor told us to act for ourselves (it was a GREAT lesson, but I'll have to tell you about it later). We left the room and she said she wasn't feeling well and we needed to go to the bathroom. Eventually she decided to go to the Health Office, which is actually closed on Saturdays. The front desk called the doctor and he said he wanted to see her, so we went to the ER! We actually left the MTC on a shuttle and she got an IV and an Ultrasound only to find out it was just a stomach ache. The nurse told us that happens a lot from the MTC. We had to stop to get her some medicine from Walgreens. While we were there, a girl ran up to us and said, "Sister Missionaries!" She told us she just turned in her papers and was all excited to see Sisters. It was a cool moment to realize that I'M a sister missionary!

 

The MTC, as I have said probably half a dozen times, is amazing. But it is so hard. I have been humbled over and over again. I'm grateful for it, but it gets overwhelming. Tell the boys to start preparing now, especially Ryan and Brent. Learn Preach My Gospel inside and out and study your scriptures hard! You'll need it. I sure which I had.

 

I've seen Alex Barkdull, Kacy Murray, Carlos, and Catherine Andelin all since being here. It's kind of fun. Yesterday, we got to walk up to the temple. There were a TON of missionaries there all taking pictures. It was way fun to feel apart of something so big. Today I got to go to the Temple with my district. That was fun too. The temple here is WAY bigger on the inside. They had multiple sessions going on at the same time because there were so many people. When I got back into the dressing room, the Sister helping us actually asked us to change as quickly as possible because they needed more lockers. That was great!

 

We are the first group to do the full on 2 week MTC program. About 1,000 missionaries came into the MTC on Wednesday and they said that's only going to get bigger. We have almost 40 missionaries going into my mission on Wednesday! And at least half are sisters! This work really is hastening. You can feel it as they're trying to cram a ton of information into our brains and hearts before we leave. It's a little crazy.

 

I have to thank you all for the love and support. We didn't get mail until Thursday night because our District Leader has to get the mail and that's when he was called. He stood next to us and over and over again said, "Cross. Cross. Cross." as he handed me more and more mail. I feel so loved! Thank you all for your support. I will try to write back to everyone in a couple of hours during personal time, but no promises.

 

I have to go. I will get you pictures on my first P-Day in the field. We can't get them on here at the MTC. I love you all. 25 to my family! Have a GREAT week! This one, I've been told, flies by pretty fast. Thank goodness! I feel like I've been here for a month! Talk to you soon!

 

Sister Cross

My Story

All my life, I have gone on and off about wanting to serve a mission. Three of my aunts have served and they have always been role models in my life, but sometimes I just didn't want to serve. For those of you who know about patriarchal blessings, mine was pretty specific that I would serve before I get married. I still went on and off about wanting to serve. The fall semester of college was a little bit difficult for me. I am in the Marriage and Family Studies program at BYU-Idaho and I learned a lot about motherhood and knew that was something I was supposed to do. But I was purposely putting aside marriage possibilities in order to serve a mission. You see, at this time men had to wait until they were 19 to serve a mission and women until 21. I felt pretty confused. As General Conference was coming up, I decided to pray about missions. The Sunday before conference, I fasted to know if I should go and if it was my choice. That whole week was pretty hard for me. I was getting mixed signals, but also some great advice from family members. On Friday night, I knelt down and prayed to my Heavenly Father about serving a mission. I said, "Heavenly Father, if I could go right now, I would leave. But I don't want to wait a year and a half to go. I know you want me to serve, but I need some counsel during conference this weekend to help motivate me to serve a mission." The next morning I said another quick pray, got ready, and walked to the Taylor building to watch conference. When President Thomas S. Monson got up to speak, I got a little feeling that this was going to be important. He was talking about temples, which is always exciting to hear about. Then he started talking about missionary work. I knew this was going to be my answer. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I knew a big change was coming. Then he started talking about 18-year-old missionaries and I knew the age was going to change. I didn't know what to think when President Monson announced that women could not serve a mission at the age of 19. I literally sat there in shock. One of my best friends, Chelcie, called me a few times and then sent me a text telling me I had to pick up the phone. I was still in shock and couldn't tell you what Elder Cook was talking about, so I stepped out and called her back. All she said was "Wynter." over and over again. Then she asked, "What are you going to do?" It was then that the words of my prayer the night before echoed in my ears, "If I could leave now, I would." I worked at the Online Support Center at the college and had just that week told students about the tuition refund policy. I knew that if I left school that Monday, I could get enough refunded to make it worth it. Financially, I would be better off if I left right then. I talked to my friend about it and got off the phone.

After the session ended, a friend and I went to lunch. I couldn't eat much and we talked about my options. I called my Home Teachers and asked them to give me a priesthood blessing. They said they would come over that night. I spoke with my family and they said if I wanted to come home, they could pick me up that Friday. Everything was falling into place. On Sunday, I fasted to know if I should leave, but I basically knew at that point that I would be moving home. Sunday night I talked to my Supervisor at work and told her I might be leaving. She said she had a hunch and we'd work it out on Monday. I went to my last shift at work and then sat down with my boss and did what I could to help him find a replacement as well as pass my work on to other coworkers. I talked with admissions and accounting and then dropped my classes. I talked to my boss at McDonalds back home on Facebook. She said my brother already talked to her and she would put me on the next schedule. I also talked with my bishop at home and he said I could meet with him about starting my mission papers on Sunday. Tuesday morning, my mom called and asked if they could pick me up Wednesday! I frantically packed and invited basically all of my friends over for dinner that night instead of spreading my time out between them all. Wednesday afternoon, my parents showed up, packed my stuff into the car and we drove home that night. In mid-December I got my mission call to the Canada Toronto Mission leaving February 13, 2013.

Now here I am, just over 3 months since the age change and less than a month away from leaving to the MTC. I can't believe how much has happened in such a short period of time. I am so excited to serve the people of Canada. I am also so grateful for the support system I have at home and the help they have been to me. I try to keep everyone posted on my address and how life is up there. Thank you all!